This brief provides an overview of the current state of freestanding birth center care in the U.S. using available data.

Insurers increased premiums by more than 20 percent; the average “benchmark” premium before tax credits jumped from $497 per ...

Compared to people in many other high-income nations, Americans are the most likely to have problems paying for their medical care.1 Unlike these countries, the United States doesn’t have universal ...

Two of five Americans — 42 percent — know someone who has died of a drug overdose.1 Between 2019 and 2024, nearly half a million Americans died of a drug overdose, including three years of over ...

Over the past five years, a growing number of states have enacted laws to reduce the financial harm from medical debt, which affects an estimated three in 10 U.S. adults.1 For example, 14 states fully ...

In North Dakota, references to the Rough Riders — a famed cavalry in the 1898 Spanish-American War — abound. The name graces hotels, grocery stores, and golf tournaments and has become a shorthand ...

“[I’m excited about] the potential of AI, because . . . with the downside also comes the upside.” Primary care clinicians spend an increasing amount of time on administrative tasks, meaning less time ...

Findings from the 2025 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey Primary care touches almost every aspect of our health. Beyond delivering essential preventive services — such as annual ...

Our colleague and coauthor, Professor Joseph Cordes, a noted economist and a budget and tax expert, passed away in February 2026. Issue: The 2025 budget reconciliation law (the One Big Beautiful Bill ...

In 2025, enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces rose to an all-time high of 24 million. This was double the enrollment figure from four years prior, with the increase largely due to ...

Findings from the Commonwealth Fund 2025 Affordability Survey and Focus Groups U.S. adults with private insurance are anxious and frustrated about getting and paying for the care they need through ...

Countries around the world are grappling with the shared challenges of rising health care costs, physician burnout, and aging populations.1 Yet the United States has long been an outlier in several ...